Utility chest



0. J. METCHELL UTILITY CHEST March 2, 1965 Filed- Oct. 2,- 1962 lmnmmman AT TO 2N EYS United States Patent 3,171,566 UEL'HTY EET Orrin 5.Mitchell, Le Roy, N.Y., assignor to Union Steel Chest (Jorporatlon, LeRoy, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Get. 2, 1962, Ser. No.227,322 1 Claim. or. 220-31) The present invention relates to a new andnovel utility chest, and more particularly to a utility chest which isprovided with a weather-proof construction so as to prevent the entry ofwater into the interior of the chest.

T he chest according to the present invention is adapted to be utilizedin many types of applications such as a tackle box, a tool box, anammunition box, and similar applications, wherein the chest may beutilized outdoors where it is exposed to the elements, and particularlywherein it may be exposed to rain or spray. In cases where the chest issubjected to these types of conditions, it is important to provide aweather-proof arrangement which will protect the contents of the chest,and particularly which will shed water.

In this type of item, it is important to maintain the structuralarrangement as simple and inexpensive in construction as possible inorder to provide a commercially competitive device, it also being arequirement that the arrangement be quite strong and safe to use.Accordingly, in order to provide this type of construction in the priorart, it has not been possible to provide a truly weather-proofarrangement which would successfully shed water under adverse weatherconditions.

The present invention accomplishes the purposes by firstly providing alower portion and a cover, each of which are formed of a leak-proofseamless construction. In addition, all of the hardware fittings aremachine riveted so as to provide a lealeproor" arrangement. Accordingly,it is apparent that the only possible place where leakage can occur isaround the edge between the lower portion and the cover, and inparticular along the hinge portion. This is true since the hingeconstruction of these types of chests are of the so-called piano hingetype wherein the hinge portions are formed integral with the members.This particular type of hinge construction is difficult to renderweather-proof, and the present invention incorporates a novelconstruction which does in fact render this type of hinge constructionsubstantially weatherproof so that it will shed water even whensubjected to rain and spray.

The hinge portions formed on the lower portion of the chest are ofrelatively conventional construction, but the cover is on the other handprovided with a novel shielded design wherein an elongated outwardlyoffset portion is provided along a lower edge portion of the cover.Spaced integral hinge portions depend from this outwardly offsetportion, and in addition, spaced depending portions are disposed inoverlying relationship to the integral hinge portions formed on thelower portion of the chest.

With this arrangement, the elongated outwardly oliset portion as well asthe last-mentioned depending portions serve as a shield which will shedwater as it either drops downwardly on the elongated outwardly ofi setportion or the depending portions, or which may run down ofi of theupper surface and the side surface of the cover. The oilset portion andthe last-mentioned depending portions serve to cause the water to draindownwardly and outwardly of the lower integral hinge portions formed onthe lower portion of the chest such that the water will not enter thechest through these hinge portions, and the hinge area of the chest isthereby rendered substantially weather-proof.

In order to effectively prevent the entry of water between the cover andthe lower portion, the remaining upper edge portion of the lower portionis provided with an integral bead or lip. The lower edge portion of thecover is in turn provided with an outwardly offset portion which isdisposed in overlying relationship to the lip or bead on the lowerportion. These portions cooperate to prevent the entry of water betweenthe cover and the lower portion.

To further assist in shedding water and preventing the accumulation ofwater on the upper portion of the device, the upper surface of the coveris of an arcuate configuration which is such that it is highest in themiddle and lowest at the ends whereby the water will tend to drain oilfrom the central portion of the cover towards the ends thereof andthence outwardly and down the sides of the chest. it will be apparentthat the outwardly offset lower edge portion of the cover serves as ashield for the joint between the cover and the lower portion whereby thewater will drain downwardly and outwardly over this joint portion andwill not tend to drop into the interior of the chest.

The top surface of the cover is also provided with an embossed scalewhich serves as a handy measuring means which may be utilized in manyditierent manners. Additionally, a snap catch is provided between thecover and the lower portion for normally retaining the cover in lockedposition, the snap catch being readily releasable by manually pullingoutwardly thereon as will be hereinafter explained.

An object of the present invention is to provide a new and novel utilitychest which is of a substantially weatherproof construction and whichprevents entry of water into the interior thereof when exposed to rainor spray.

Another object of the invention is to provide a utility chest which isof simple and inexpensive construction, and yet which is quite strongand safe to use.

Other objects and many attendant advantages of the invention will becomemore apparent when considered in connection with the specification andaccompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a utility chest according to thepresent invention showing the device with the cover in closedrelationship to the lower portion thereof;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the chest shown in FIG. 1 with thecover in its open position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 33 of FIG. 1looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a rear View of the utility chest of the invention illustratingthe hinge structure thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 55 of FIG. 4looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along line -d of FIG. 4looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference charactersdesignate corresponding parts throughout the several views, there isseen particularly in FIGS. 1 and 2 the utility chest of the presentinvention which includes a lower portion indicated generally byreference numeral lit, and an upper portion indicated generally byreference numeral 11. Each of members 10 and 11 have in common the factthat they are integral one-piece full drawn leak-proof seamless bodiesof a suitable metallic substance such as steel or the like, and may beprovided with a suitable finish such as a hard baked blue enamel finish.All edges formed on these members are fully returned for safety andstrength.

Additionally, it will be apparent that the corners of each of thesemembers are rounded. A conventional tray indicated generally byreference numeral 13 is pivotally interconnected with the lower portionand the cover in a well-known manner so as to pivot into the operativeposition shown in FIG. 2 when in its open position.

A snap catch means is provided for retaining the cover in its operativeposition, the snap catch including a hasp element which is pivotallyconnected to the cover and which may be provided with suitable springmeans for normally urging it into locking position, and a staple meansor element 16 is connected to the lower portion 10. The snap catch isshown in its operative locking position in'FlG. 1, and it will beapparent that a suitable locking means such as a padlock or the like maybe inserted through the staple means to lock the chest when desired.

As seen particularly in FIG. 1,,a handle 20 is pivotally connected to ahandle plate 21 which in turn is connected with the cover by machineriveting as are the members 15 and 16 of the snap catch so as to providea waterproof interconnection between these various components and thecover or the lower portion respectively. The cover is also provided withan embossed scale indicated by reference numeral 23 which forconvenience may define a 12 inch rule.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawing, the upper edge portion ofone side of the lower portion 1% of the utility chest is provided with aplurality of integral spaced hinge portions 25, each of these hingeportions being bent over as seen particularly in FIG. 5.to provide asubstantially circular channel therethrough. This construction isrelatively conventional in the art.

The cover 11 is provided along one side thereof with an integralelongated outwardly oifset portion or shield indicated by referencenumeral 39, it being noted that this offset portion may extend outsubstantially normally to the depending side wall of the cover. Thereextends downwardly from this elongated outwardly oifset portion aplurality of integral hinge portions indicated by refer ence numerals3i, these integral hinge portions as seen particularly in FIG. 6 beingbent around to define a substantially circular channel therewithin. Asseen in FIG. 6, the channel is spaced below the shield 3d a distancesubstantially equal to the thickness of the material from which the boxis made. i

As will be clearly evident from FIG. 4, the integral hinge portions 31of the cover are disposed in staggered relationship to the integralhinge portions of the lower portion and are adapted to be nestedtherebetween with the circular channels of the various hinge portionsbeing aligned with one another so as to receive a hinge pin 35 whichextends through these various hinge portions so as to hingedlyinterconnect the cover with the lower portion.

Referring to F168. 4 and 5, it will be noted that integral dependingportions 37 extend downwardly from the offset portion 3%, portions 3''?being disposed between the integral hinge portions 31 previouslydescribed. it will be apparent that the depending portions 37 extenddownwardly a substantial distance less than depending hinge portions 31,and furthermore, it will also be apparent that depending portions 37 aredisposed directly over the integral hinge portions 25 of the lowerportion, and in fact partly curve therearound as will be clearly evidentfrom FIG. 5. it is obvious that the offset portion 34 and the integraldepending portions 3'7 disposed in overlying relationship to theintegral portions 25 will serve to deflect any water so as to preventthe water from running down through the hingepo'rtions into the interiorof the chest. This arrangement accordinglyrenders this portion of thechest substantially weather-proof.

Except for the upper edges between the hinge portion as seen in FIG. 4,the remaining upper edge portion of the lower portion 10 is provided allthe way around with an integral turne -over portion 40 which defines alip. or head at the upper edge of the lower portion. The lower edgeportion of the cover 11 is provided substantially all the way aroundexcept for the hinge portions with an outwardly offset lower edgeportion 41. As seen in FIG. 3,

. around the remainder of the utility chest for preventing offsetportion 41 is adapted to cooperate with the lip 44) so as to prevent'theentry of water into the interior of the utility chest around theremaining portions of the cover and lower portion.

It is apparent from the foregoing that there is provided a new and novelutility chest which is of a substantially weather-proof construction,and which prevents entry of water when exposed to rain or spray. Theoutwardly offset portion of the cover in combination with the dependingportions in overiyin'g relationship to the lower hinge portions 25prevent entry of water through the hinge area, and the lip at theupperedge of the lower portion cooperates with the o'fi'set lower edgeportion of the cover entry of water in this area. The construction ofthe utility chest is quate simple and inexpensive, and yet at the sametime is quite strong and the device is safe to use.

As this invention may be embodied in several forms withoutdeparting fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof, the present embodimentis therefore illustrative and not restrictive, and since the scope ofthe invention is defined by the appended claim, all changes'that fallwithin the metes and bounds of the claim or that form their functionalas well as conjointly cooperative equivalents are therefore intended tobe embraced by this claim.

I claim:

A utility chest or the like comprising an integral onepiece metal bodyhaving a bottom and four major u standing sides, the uppcr edges of allmajor surfaces being folded outwardly, downwardly and fully returnedinwardly to provide a lip integral with said major side portions, thelip of one major side having alternate spaced portions thereof removedto provide hinge sections between the'spaces, an integral one-piecemetal cover having a top and four major downwardly extending sides, thelower edges of three of said four major sides terminating in an offsetportion in which the metal has been formed to extend outwardly anddownwardly, the lower inner surface of said offset portion being formedto loosely overlay the upper portion of the lip of said body when thecover is closed, the fourth major side of said cover terminating in acentral edge portion and two marginal edge portions, said marginal edgeportions having cross-sec tional configurations identical to the offsetportion of said other three major sides of said cover, the metal of saidcentral portion extending outwardly, downwardly and inwardly and thenupwardly and outwardly to underlie the initial outwardly extendingsection of said central portion, said central edge portion in the lowersection of its downward extent and ali of its dependent inward, upwardand outward extent hcving laterally alternate spaced portions thereofremoved, said central edge portion between said removed spaces formingcover hinge sections, a hinge pin extending through the hinge sectionsof said body and cover, the cover hinge sections together with the bodyhinge sections and hinge pin constituting a piano hinge, the centraledge portion between said hinge sect-ions constituting a cover for thebody hinge sections, catch means comprising elements mounted on saidcover and body located on those major faces thereof opposite to themajor faces which are most adjacent said piano hinge.

'Reterences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 208,343 9/78Somers 220 31 1,388,187 8/21 Marie 43 54.s 2,681,201 6/54 Grunwald43-545 FOREIGN PATENTS 357,894 10/31 Great Britain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

EARLE I. DRUMMOND, Examiner.

